- Spencer Carbery would not put a number on Alex Ovechkin’s minutes in his 22nd season
- Ovechkin’s ice time has dropped four years running, down to a career-low 17:27 last season
- Read below for how Washington’s new forwards change the math around its captain
Spencer Carbery is not making Alex Ovechkin any promises about ice time.
The Capitals coach was asked how he plans to deploy the NHL’s all-time goal leader in his 22nd season, and he kept the details to himself when he spoke with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti.
“Where he plays, what he does, I’m not going to get into specifics of minutes and this and that. But ‘O’ understands where he’s at in his career and his age, and it’s my job as the head coach to do the best job possible to deploy him in the most opportune situations for him. And him and I will continue to work to do that effectively.”
Ovechkin turns 41 on Sept. 17. His ice time has fallen in each of the past four seasons, bottoming out at a career-low 17:27 per game last year.
That has not cost him the top spot on the stat sheet. He scored 32 goals and put up 64 points last season, and he has led Washington in goals in all 21 of his NHL seasons, sharing it with T.J. Oshie in 2016-17.
Washington’s forward group looks nothing like it did a year ago. General manager Chris Patrick traded for Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch, each a three-time 30-goal scorer, then signed Boone Jenner and defenseman Vincent Desharnais on July 1.
Patrick was asked what a successful summer would have looked like going in, and he said the bar was one top-six forward plus a depth piece or two.
“So to sort of come out with two top-six forwards and another guy that could arguably be a third-line forward with a lot of utility and then a ‘D’ that can kind of be a second-pair or third-pair guy, I think we really hit on a lot of things that we’d hoped for on the high end. So, I think it was kind of the best-case scenario.”
Watch what Kyrou brings to the top six:
Carbery expects one of Tuch, Kyrou or Ryan Leonard to slide over to the left side, since all three have spent most of their careers on the right. He also plans to open camp with the three newcomers on separate lines so each one has returning players around him.
The captain waited until July 2 to commit to a 22nd year. His one-year deal pays $1 million in salary, a $3.25 million signing bonus and a $4.75 million bonus that kicks in at 10 games played, for a $4.25 million cap hit.
Capitals beat reporter Tarik El-Bashir laid out the structure the day it was signed:
Ovechkin sits on 929 career goals and is 11 away from putting Wayne Gretzky’s all-time total out of reach.
The minutes are coming down. Carbery just is not saying how far.
